Ukraine has banned the use of the Telegram messaging platform on official devices issued to government and military employees, as well as defense and critical infrastructure workers.
The country’s powerful National Security and Defence Council (Rnbo) said the move was aimed at “mitigating” threats posed by Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“Telegram is being actively used by adversaries to launch cyberattacks, spread phishing and malware, geolocate users and tailor attack missiles,” Rnbo said on Friday.
In a statement to the BBC, Telegram said it had “never provided any messaging data to any country, including Russia”.
Telegram is widely used by the government and military in both Ukraine and Russia.
In a statement, Rnbo said the ban was approved at a meeting between Ukraine’s top information security officials, the military and lawmakers.
The report said military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov provided credible evidence of the ability of Russian special services to access Telegram users’ personal correspondence, even their deleted messages.
Budanov was quoted as saying: “I have always supported and continue to support freedom of speech, but the problem with Telegram is not a problem of freedom of speech, but a problem of national security.”
Rnbo said officials who use Telegram for work purposes will be exempt from the ban.
Separately, Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Rnbo’s anti-disinformation center, stressed that the ban applies only to official devices – not personal smartphones.
He added that government officials and military personnel will be able to continue to maintain and update their official Telegram pages.
Last year, a USAID-Internews survey found that Telegram was the leading social platform in Ukraine for reading news, with 72% of Ukrainians using the platform.
Telegram – which offers end-to-end encryption – was co-founded by Russian Pavel Durov and his brother in 2013.
A year later, Durov left Russia after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on the platform.
Last month, Durov, who is also a French citizen, was formally placed under investigation in France as part of an organized crime investigation.
His case has sparked debate about free speech, accountability and how platforms moderate content.
In July, Durov announced that Telegram had reached 950 million monthly active users.
Following Ukraine’s statement, a Telegram spokesperson said the company would be “interested in reviewing any evidence supporting Mr. Budanov’s claims,” adding that “to our knowledge, there is no such evidence.”
“Telegram has never provided any messaging data to any country, including Russia,” the spokesperson added.
Telegram also said that “deleted messages are permanently deleted and technically cannot be recovered.”
The company added that “every case of ‘leaked messages’ that Telegram investigated was the result of a compromised device, either through confiscation or malware.”
